Repeater Providing Data Exchange with a Medical Device for Remote Patient Care and Method Thereof

1. An auto-configurable repeater for remote patient care, comprising: a store maintaining data exchanged with a patient medical device; and a processor, comprising: a plurality of interfaces to an external device, comprising a wireless interface and a wired interface; a selection module automatically specifying one of the wireless interface and the wired interface based on conditions in respect of an associated communication medium that could affect data exchange; and a transfer module to access the data in the store and to exchange the data with an external device over the specified interface.

2. An auto-configurable repeater according to Claim 1 , further comprising: a default interface comprising one of the wired interface and the wireless interface, which is specified prior to the exchange with the external device.

3. An auto-configurable repeater according to claim 2 , wherein the default interface comprises the one of the wireless interface and the wired interface having a fastest data exchange rate.

4. An auto-configurable repeater according to claim 1 , further comprising: a further interface to the patient medical device; and an interrogator module to exchange the data with the patient medical device over the further interface.

5. A method for providing auto-configurable data exchange for remote patient care, comprising: maintaining data exchanged with a patient medical device; providing a plurality of interfaces to an external device, comprising a wireless interface and a wired interface; automatically specifying one of the wireless interface and the wired interface based on conditions in respect of an associated communication medium that could affect data exchange; and exchanging the data with an external device over the specified interface.

6. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising: a default interface comprising one of the wired interface and the wireless interface, which is specified prior to the exchange with the external device.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein the default interface comprises the one of the wireless interface and the wired interface having a fastest data exchange rate.

8. A method according to claim 5 , further comprising: a further interface to the patient medical device; and an interrogator module to exchange the data with the patient medical device over the further interface.

9. A repeater providing data exchange with a medical device for remote patient care, comprising: a plurality of interfaces, comprising: a medical device interface interconnected with a medical device; a wireless interface coupled to a wireless medium; and a wired interface coupled to a wired medium; an interface selector, comprising: a test module operable over the wireless interface and the wired interface to evaluate conditions on each respective medium that could affect data exchange over each of the interfaces; and a selection module specifying data exchange to occur using one of the wireless interface and the wired interface based on the evaluated conditions; an interrogator module to exchange data with the medical device over the medical device interface; and a data transfer module to exchange the data with an external device over the specified interface.

10. A repeater according to claim 9 , further comprising: a default interface comprising one of the wired interface and the wireless interface as specified prior to the exchange with the external device, wherein the other of the wired interface and the wireless interface is selected upon failure of the default interface to satisfy the evaluated conditions.

11. A repeater according to claim 9 , further comprising modules for one or more of data store, data analysis, data forwarding, patient interaction, patient feedback, and data communications.

12. A repeater according to claim 9 , wherein the data is exchanged with the medical device either periodically or on demand.

13. A repeater according to claim 9 , further comprising at least one of: an analysis module to perform analysis on the data and provide immediate feedback; and a diagnostic module to perform self-diagnostic tests to verify proper functioning and that communication has not been compromised.

14. A repeater according to claim 9 , wherein the conditions are selected from the group comprising availability of the communication medium, signal strength, and data transfer speed, and data transfer bandwidth.

15. A repeater according to claim 9 , wherein the data is selected from the group comprising P-wave measurements, R-wave measurements, pacing, shocking events, lead impedances, pacing thresholds, battery voltage, capacitor charge times, ATR episodes with electrograms, tachycardia episodes with electrograms, and histogram information.

16. A repeater according to claim 9 , wherein the wireless medium is selected from the group comprising cellular, satellite, radio frequency, and infrared media, and the wired medium is selected from the group comprising telephonic, DSL, broadband, and fiber optic media.

17. A method for providing data exchange with a medical device for remote patient care, comprising: interconnecting a medical device interface to a medical device; providing each of a wireless interface coupled to a wireless medium and a wired interface coupled to a wired medium; evaluating conditions that could affect data exchange over each of the wireless interface and the wired interface; specifying data exchange to occur using one of the wireless interface and the wired interface based on the evaluated conditions; exchanging data with the medical device over the medical device interface; and exchanging the data with an external device over the specified interface.

18. A method according to claim 17 , further comprising: specifying a default interface comprising one of the wired interface and the wireless interface as specified prior to the exchange with the external device; and selecting the other of the wired interface and the wireless interface upon failure of the default interface to satisfy the evaluated conditions.

19. A method according to claim 17 , further comprising: providing one or more of data store, data analysis, data forwarding, patient interaction, patient feedback, and data communications.

20. A method according to claim 17 , further comprising: exchanging the data with the medical device either periodically or on demand.

21. A method according to claim 17 , further comprising at least one of: performing analysis on the data and provide immediate feedback; and performing self-diagnostic tests to verify proper functioning and that communication has not been compromised.

22. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the conditions are selected from the group comprising availability of the communication medium, signal strength, and data transfer speed, and data transfer bandwidth.

23. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the data is selected from the group comprising P-wave measurements, R-wave measurements, pacing, shocking events, lead impedances, pacing thresholds, battery voltage, capacitor charge times, ATR episodes with electrograms, tachycardia episodes with electrograms, and histogram information.

24. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the wireless medium is selected from the group comprising cellular, satellite, radio frequency, and infrared media, and the wired medium is selected from the group comprising telephonic, DSL, broadband, and fiber optic media.